The Artist once again known as Prince is making something of a comeback. The singing sensation of the 1980s is in the midst of a 38-city tour bouncing off the buzz created by his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a recent performance at the Grammys.
But fans will find that Prince has changed, and it’s not only his music.
Joining a growing group of middle-aged stars seeking more “spirituality,” the 45-year-old former funk phenomenon has found religion.
However, unlike his contemporary Madonna who hooked up with a rather trendy rabbi/guru that sells “Kaballah water,” this 1980s pop icon has chosen Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Despite his past reputation as an innovator and trendsetter Prince has picked something old.
For more than a hundred years Jehovah’s Witnesses has thrived through its dark prophecies about an ever-imminent “final judgement.” The controversial religion is also known for its rejection of “worldly” things, from blood transfusions to birthdays.
Four years ago the funkster converted reportedly to satisfy his mother’s dying wish, but since then Prince has gone so far as to add religious lyrics to his theme song “Purple Rain.”
The new line in the song goes, “Say you can’t make up your mind? I think you better close it and open up the Bible.”
Close your mind?
Isn’t that like being “brainwashed“?
Prince may have even recast his old battles with record companies into something religious.
“I can tell you who made the System,” he told Newsweek cryptically (April 12, 2004). The “System,” according to Prince apparently includes the music recording business that he says once “enslaved” him.
But the word “System” has a darker connotation than slavery amongst Jehovah’s Witnesses. It encompasses everything “worldly” outside of the organization, which includes all world governments, businesses and any other religious organizations.
And “who made the System” and essentially controls it today?
According to the Witnesses its creator and guiding light is Satan.
This is why Witnesses shun such things as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, military service and political parties, because it’s all part of the “System” and therefore linked to “Satan.”
The “System” by definition also would certainly embrace such worldly things as the Grammys and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So why did Prince perform at these gatherings and become the willing “slave” of “worldly” Columbia Records?
Apparently there may be some other rulebook for famous Witnesses, who might easily make hefty gifts to “Jehovah’s Kingdom.”
This seemed to be the case for the “Gloved One” Michael Jackson during the 1980s, who was raised a Witness, but left the group after his hit album Thriller.
Following in the footsteps of the former “King of Pop,” Prince now proselytizes door- to-door.
Though when this five foot two androgynous performer promotes Jehovah’s Witnesses in Minneapolis he wears his trademark mascara and is “dressed in a tailor-made suit…stack heels” and driven to doorsteps in a “limo…surrounded by four bodyguards” says the London Mirror.
Well, Prince may still be “revolutionary” amongst Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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